The Village ofEssex Junction

The Village of Essex Junction is in the heart of Chittenden County, Vermont. Its friendly neighborhoods and 19th-century buildings reflect its Vermont village heritage. Our focus on good schools and a vibrant local economy reflect its commitment to building a sustainable community with an excellent quality of life.

CURRENT PROJECTS:

The VT Route 15 corridor from Winooski to Essex Junction and beyond is recognized as a primary transportation corridor that lacks sufficient bicycle facilities. Much progress has been made in recent years to address this. In Essex Junction, from West Street Extension to the Champlain Valley Exposition, bicycle lanes have been added to VT Route 15 by converting the four lane section to a three lane section with a center left turn lane. For the VT Route 15 section from Limn Kiln Road to Susie Wilson Road, a shared use path is currently being designed and needed acquisitions and easements are being pursued. This study focuses on the remaining VT Route 15 section from Susie Wilson Road to West Street Extension.

VT 15 SIDEWALK/PATH SCOPING STUDY – ATHENS DRIVE TO VT 289

Over the years, the Village of Essex Junction and the Town of Essex have greatly expanded their pedestrian and bicycle network through a series of sidewalks, shared use paths, and on-street facilities. The VT 15 corridor, from Essex Junction Village to VT 289 Interchange is an important link missing to connect these facilities. As the interest in active transportation has grown, the need for this link has grown.

This project will develop and evaluate possible bicycle and pedestrian connections for this important, missing link along VT 15. The project area begins on the east side of the Village at Athens Drive, where an existing shared use path ends. It extends eastward approximately 0.70 miles to the VT 289 interchange, where there is an existing shared use path on the east side. The need for better bicycle and pedestrian facilities in this location has been discussed for many years but discounted as being too difficult and/or too costly to construct.

BICYCLE & PEDESTRIAN PLAN

This plan represents a unified Town/Village bicycle & pedestrian plan that connects the entire community. It assesses the existing network, and identifies and prioritizes future needs so that the Town and Village can pursue implementation opportunities as they arise. This project considers updated design approaches; there have been many recent innovations in bicycle and pedestrian design, many of which may be applicable to the Town and Village and result in a more cost effective and easily implemented network.

ESSEX JUNCTION TRAIN STATION ACCESS & CIRCULATION STUDY

The purpose of the Essex Junction Train Station project is to develop and evaluate possible upgrades to the train station building and the adjacent areas to accommodate the existing station uses, provide a safe and functional waiting area for train and bus riders, to improve traffic circulation in the surrounding area and to improve the aesthetics of the area. This project is a continuation of a Village initiative between residents, University of Vermont engineering students and volunteer architects and engineers to develop a schematic plan of a possible new station structure. This scoping study will advance the work previously completed and endorsed by the Village Trustees.

CRESCENT CONNECTOR PROJECT

The Environmental Assessment identifies, analyzes and discusses the potential environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic effects associated with the construction of the Crescent Connector Project in the Village of Essex Junction, Vermont.